Easy Tips for Longer Life

What do we need for an active old age? Luck to begin with, it helps to have had parents who were fit and lived long. But we must use our luck when we have it. There is a 100 year old who plays tennis for two hours, has a nap and then goes to the fitness club. Buster Marton, at 101 the oldest man to run the London Marathon, finished in a creditable 10 hours. It can be done.

Of course arthritic elbows don’t help a forehand smash down the line and dodgy knees slow you up a bit on a marathon. But a lot of this is in the mind.

It is natural to slow down as we get older. The aged Labrador dozing on the porch has perfected the art of immobile tail wagging. He knows his limitations and sticks to them.

But he probably chased a ball as long as he could and we must do the same in our own way.

Just tell yourself to go out and get fit. That is the only way to have an active old age and a longer life as a result. Want it and do it. Imagine the aches and pains are just small local difficulties and work round them.

Obesity and its associated problems is the real killer, along with smoking and excessive alcohol. A regular fitness walking program and a healthy diet should take care of the weight problem.

We need to be mentally alert to bother with keeping fit at all. This, according to the University of California at San Francisco, can be achieved by exercise. So we have a situation in which we exercise in order to be mentally alert enough to want to exercise. But what we are interested in is results and long term mental as well as physical fitness has to be a benefit we all want.

Out of a sample of 2000 men and women in their 70s and 80s Researchers found that those who exercised moderately or vigorously at least once a week were 30% more likely to be mentally alert than those who didn’t.

Mental alertness did not only depend on exercise.. Those with a good education were 3 times more likely to maintain their mental faculties

High levels of literacy were associated with a five fold better chance of side stepping mental decline. Even if you missed out on a good education you can still read books and check out the daily papers.

Pets add years to your life due to reducing stress levels. I suspect that the degree of reduction depends on the pet. A dog might increase your longevity by making you exercise in all weathers and then stress you with excessive barking. A cat may soothe you by purring in front of the fire and then stress you with mangled mice. Perhaps a goldfish is the answer, but whatever pet you keep we are told the result is a good thing.

For men one of the best ways of living longer is to marry a younger woman. A man’s chances of dying early are cut by a fifth if his bride is between 15 and 17 years his junior. Sadly for women if they marry a younger man their chances of dying increase.

So, hope your parents live long, keep up your walking fitness program, lose weight, keep a pet and if you are male marry a younger woman. Do all that and maybe you will be playing tennis at 100 years old.